Referral-based Job Search Networks

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dustmann, Christian; Glitz, Albrecht; Schoenberg, Uta; Bruecker, Herbert
• 署名单位: University of London; University College London; Pompeu Fabra University; Barcelona School of Economics; University of London; University College London; Otto Friedrich University Bamberg
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdv045
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 514-546
• 关键词: Social networks; occupational choice; unemployed youth; match quality; EMPLOYMENT; INEQUALITY; contacts; wages; turnover; TENURE

摘要

This article derives novel testable implications of referral-based job search networks in which employees provide employers with information about potential new hires that they otherwise would not have. Using comprehensive matched employer-employee data covering the entire workforce in one large metropolitan labour market combined with unique survey data linked to administrative records, we provide evidence that workers earn higher wages and are less inclined to leave their firms if they have obtained their job through a referral. These effects are particularly strong at the beginning of the employment relationship and decline with tenure in the firm, suggesting that firms and workers learn about workers' productivity over time. Overall, our findings imply that job search networks help to reduce informational deficiencies in the labour market and lead to productivity gains for workers and firms.